Page 17 of Rock Chick

“Thank you,” I said politely, blinking a lot and wondering if I was still asleep and dreaming.

I poured some milk in my joe, concentrating on not letting my body tremble. I was trying to be cool, but I was confused. This kind of behavior from Lee had never happened before.

As in ever.

I took a sip of coffee and tried to get my mind in gear.

“Do you want to explain to me why you have me pressed up against the counter?” I asked, using what I hoped was a questioning yet diplomatic tone rather than a freaked-out “ohmigod, hell has just frozen over” tone.

This was hard for me. I needed to be alert and aware in any situation involving Lee in order not to snap and declare my undying love for him, but I’d only had one sip of coffee.

And somehow, this was definitely a situation involving Lee. In fact, it was more like adangeroussituation involving Lee.

I took another sip, going for the gusto, and burned my tongue.

“Yeow!”

While I was recovering, Lee turned me around and moved further into me.

He did this well, considering there wasn’t a lot of space to move and even less space to move into. Not to mention I had the coffee cup between us. He settled his hands on the counter on either side of me again.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” he asked.

Yikes.

Direct shot.

He didn’t even lead into it.

Although his eyes and features were still gentle, it wasn’t from just waking up. I could tell Lee was as alert and aware as you could get. The gentleness was from something else.

Shit, shit,shit.

What in holy hell was going on?

I decided to play stupid.

“What?” I asked.

“You heard me,” he answered.

Then there are those times when honesty wasnotthe best policy.

“I haven’t been avoiding you.” I took another sip, thinking I should have put another scoop or two of coffee in the filter.

“You’re lying. The last time we were both at dinner, you got up in the middle of Mom’s fajita presentation and said you forgot to feed your cat.”

Uh-oh.

“So?”

“You don’t have a cat.”

“I was cat sitting,” I lied.

He smiled.

He smiled The Smile.

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